THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. As I speak to you this
morning I can look out on Grand Teton National Park in the Rocky
Mountains where my family and I are enjoying our summer vacation. We're
looking forward to exploring both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National
Parks over the next several days. The beauty of these mountains is
absolutely breathtaking, and their tranquility is good for the soul.

We could all use a lot more peace and quiet in our
lives and in our society these days. So today I want to talk about
our progress in reducing the violent crime that has shattered the
lives of too many Americans for too long.

Just a year ago this week we ended six years of partisan
stalemate in Washington by pushing a tough, sweeping crime bill through
the Congress. Narrow interest groups on the left and the right didn't
want the bill to pass, and you can be sure the criminals didn't,
either. But every major law enforcement organization in America fought
hard for the crime bill, and so did I, because it puts government
firmly on the side of the people who abide by the law, not the
criminals who break it.

Already the crime bill is making a difference. So far,
we have awarded community policing grants to put 24,000 new police
officers on the street. And we paid for it with the money saved by
reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy to its lowest level since
John Kennedy was President. Already there are 150,000 fewer people
working for the U.S. government than there were the day I became
President.

The assault weapons ban and the Brady Bill have stopped
thousands of criminals from getting their hands on deadly weapons.
We're giving states more help in building prisons to keep serious
offenders behind bars longer. And we're giving communities funds for
prevention, to give our young people something to say yes to as well as
something to say no to.

Although it's far too early to declare victory,
aggressive efforts like these, and aggressive efforts by local police
departments to expand community policing and crack down on drugs and
gangs have helped to reduce the murder rate this year in Chicago, New
York, New Orleans, and several other major cities. In fact, the crime
rate is down overall in almost every area in America.

The crime bill has also given prosecutors tough new
penalties to use against violent criminals. The death penalty can now
be imposed for nearly 60 federal crimes, such as killing a law
enforcement officer and using weapons of mass destruction resulting in
death. Prosecutors are using this statute to seek the death penalty in
indictments in the Oklahoma City bombing just now.

And just this week a violent career criminal in Iowa named
Thomas Farmer was sentenced to life imprisonment because the crime bill
says to repeat offenders, when you commit a third violent crime you'll
be put away and put away for good -- three strikes and you're out.

Until this week, Thomas Farmer had been a textbook case of
what's wrong with our criminal justice system. He committed one violent
crime after another and each time was paroled long before his sentence
was up. In 1970, he murdered a doctor and drew a 20-year sentence, but
he was paroled a few years later, even after he tried to escape.

In 1979, he was sentenced to 25 years for armed robbery.
Two years later he murdered a fellow inmate and was sentenced to an
additional 10 years, but the state paroled him yet again. And last fall
he went on a crime spree, robbing two supermarkets and threatening to
kill an employee who was taking too long to open the store safe.

No wonder law-abiding Americans are fed up with a system
that lets too many career criminals get out of jail free. If Thomas
Farmer had been convicted in state court again he might have been out on
the street again in less than three years. But our three strikes and
you're out law slammed that revolving door shut. Thomas Farmer has made
a life of violent crime; now he will pay for the rest of his life behind
bars where he belongs.

Thomas Farmer was the very first career criminal we put
away under the three strikes and you're out. But he will not be the
last. Federal prosecutors already have another 16 three strikes cases
pending around the country, including three convictions that are
awaiting sentencing now.

One year ago, we overcame deep partisan differences and
bitter partisan opposition to make three strikes and you're out the law
of the land. Now it's time for members of Congress to do that again --
to put aside demands for ideological purity and give the American people
the reforms they want, the reforms they need, the reforms they need in
welfare; the reforms they need in other area of our government. And
these reforms clearly include the antiterrorism legislation I sent to
Congress after the Oklahoma City bombing.

It's hard to imagine what more must happen to convince
Congress to pass that bill. Yet partisan politics has blocked it in the
House of Representatives. I call on the House to pass that
antiterrorism bill when they return so we can continue to make all
Americans safer.

Because of the crime bill passed a year ago, the people of
Iowa are safer today, and a career criminal who haunted them for decades
is off the streets for good. I'll keep doing everything in my power to
ensure that those who commit crimes are caught, those who are caught are
convicted, those who are convicted are punished, and those who have made
a life of crime spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

The American people deserve a justice system that reflects
our values, and a government that fulfills its first responsibility --
to keep Americans safe.